Texturing Tutorial for RWX files as typically used in Active Worlds

Foreword

This text is written as a first hands on for prospective Active Worlds artists, I will walk you through examples of applying textures in rwx files as I think this is the best method to learn the technique.

A foreword in a technical text is the only place a author gets to make personal comments so I would like to thank Russell Freeland for connecting me with the people here in Norway who was in the process of building a virtual world (and forcing me to learn model making and texturing!) and for endless patience for my questions which must have seemed endless and stupid. Thanks to Lars Bahner, for giving me the chance to build in an almost empty world and for accepting me after a email introduction and let me go wild in their world, wrecking chaos at what was already there and change it beyond recognition. To all that ever passed my way in the process: thanks a million for the encouragement and your kind words, without I would have gone crazy.

Introduction

This tutorial assumes you have some knowledge of rwx files and how to write them. What we will do is to take a tour or the process of applying textures to your latest masterpiece. If you get lost at the first example I would suggest you go back to learning basic rwx files first. A good place to start is Grover's Renderware Tutorial.

You might ask: "now what is a texture anyway?". A texture is a bitmap we "glue" onto the individual polygons (like a Quad) on your object. The purpose of this is to enhance the realism of your work (by making a wood structure actually look like wood with a nice wood texture), applying artwork like graphics or text to create the desired effect (mood and feel) of your design or to apply useful information like pictures or text.

During this document I will use bold and italic text like this to mark important text. While at it, let give you one example:

Remember this during this tutorial: Applying texture to an object only seems difficult, in reality it is very simple. I am not kidding, if it seems difficult it is because of a steep learning curve, once you understand it you will never regret the time spent on it.

Example files will be printed in text like this.

Accessed since 27. March 1998